A variety of food processing systems have been developed for slicing food items into helical or spiral-shaped portions. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,726, to Julian, issued May 22, 1990, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,418 to Covert, et al., issued Dec. 25, 1990, both disclose an apparatus for cutting food items, such as potatoes, into helical portions. The apparatus of each of these patents transports potatoes between a set of top, bottom, and side conveyors to a set of spring biased feed rollers 150, 151, and 152. Each potato is then translated horizontally between the feed rollers into contact with a rotating knife assembly 12. The knife assembly has two radially oriented rows of horizontally protruding knife blades 180 for scoring the potato, and a vertically oriented blade 182 for severing helical slices from the scored potato. The knife assembly of U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,418 (and of a first embodiment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,726) is driven by drive gear 188 which engages the knife assembly's drive teeth 231 (shown in FIG. 11 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,726). In a second embodiment disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,726, the knife assembly is driven by drive belt 360 (shown in FIG. 13), which engages teeth 320 of knife assembly member 316.
The present invention is an improved apparatus for producing helical slices of an object, which includes an improved knife assembly drive means employing water to cool and clean its bearings, an improved knife assembly having knife blades arranged in a spiral pattern to reduce the torque needed to slice objects, and an improved, vertically oriented feed roller and feed chain assembly for translating objects into contact with the knife assembly.